Food cooking ovens embodying endless conveyors, are well known in the art. Many different types and styles of ovens are available for cooking various types of food products.
Applicant's assignee manufactures a food product cooking oven known in the trade as a "CFO" oven (counter-flow oven) wherein food product is inserted in the inlet of the oven onto an endless conveyor therein and the food product is carried through the oven on the conveyor while gaseous cooking medium is applied to the food product on the conveyor, both above and below the conveyor, thereby tending to provide uniformly cooked product, regardless of the conveyor belt loading. The conveyor runs in the opposite direction (or counterflow) to a portion of the cooking medium flow path, thus resulting in the aforementioned designation "CFO" for the oven. The cooking medium in such a "CFO" oven is circulated throughout the oven by fans, where it is repeatedly reheated and conducted through the oven for further use in the cooking process. Varied food products such as hamburgers, breaded fish, chicken and the likes are effectively cookable in such type of known ovens.
However, sometimes the food product is of a type or size or content wherein an unduly long dimension oven is required in order to properly cook the food product as it passes from the inlet to the outlet of the oven. Such an elongated oven reguires excessive floor space, and generally requires larger components for heating and circulation of the cooking medium over the lengthwise extend of the path of travel of the food product conveyor thereof.